I *know* -- because I've been told so many times by people I trust -- that I am more sensitive to matters of gender, race and religion than most.

It's interesting that people have repeatedly said this to you.

I *know* that none of the women in my circle of family and friends found anything in *that particular cartoon* in any way offensive or derogatory. Because I asked.

Did you really ask a lot of women about this? Can you describe the conversations you had?

And I conclude that most any offense taken from *that particular cartoon* is artificial and derivative.

So first one male says that females are offended by it and then another male says that females are not offended by it. I don't know who to believe!

Not all; some are offended by the sight of a women's hair or arms; some by kissing in public; some by pencil lines on paper; some by certain combinations of letters, regardless of context. But in general, there is nothing in that cartoon; neither the images, nor the words, nor the underlying ideas, nor the intent, that is offensive to most women.

Apart from all the women in your circle that you've told us about, I don't think there are a whole lot of women in the world who are really comfortable with "boob job" jokes.

Indeed, with just a little thought and suspension of knee-jerkism, it is easy to see that it is the very male stereotyping of what constitutes the "ideal women", that you are trying to allude to, that is the butt of the joke.